Meditation: The Telescope of My Life

"With meditation, I naturally feel so happy and I look forward each day,"shares Ghazal

Ghazal Koellner is a naturopath by profession and an Art of Living teacher for youth courses. Like most people, she too initially felt that meditation was not for her. But having been benefitted a lot, today she is a regular meditator. She calls meditation the telescope of her life.

Ever since I was a child, I have always wanted a telescope; and one day, just 2 weeks before my exams in college, I got one as a birthday gift—I basically got a meditation course as a gift, but for me meditation is a telescope. How is that? I’ll come back to that.

This was the time in college when exams were very near and I was very stressed. My friend gifted me the meditation course. It being a birthday present, I could not give it back to her and so I attended, and today I say it’s been the best birthday present ever.

From that day onwards, I started regular practice of meditation and it changed my life. My days are now always filled with much more energy. I now wake up early (unlike before) to meditate and do some other practices. After my daily meditation, I naturally feel so happy and I look forward to the day, to what awaits me. Now, when stressful situations come up, I do get stressed or angry, but I am able to let go very easily and be centered again.

As an example, when I first learned meditation before my exam, I really felt calmer than usual. During the exams, all the others were wondering why I was so relaxed and enjoyed the examination.

Meditation has changed my perspective towards all the things we do in life. Well, you can either see problems as problems or as challenges. Earlier, for me problems were problems, but now I take each as a fun challenge. The first instance of this was when I was able to write my exams with a lot of joy. In a similar way, it became very natural and fun overcoming bigger and bigger challenges. Even when I worked on a grand project like the World Culture Festival in Berlin, it was a fun challenge.

The transformation has been huge. Earlier, I felt I had everything in my life, everything I thought I needed—I was studying what I wanted to, I had a great family, and great friends. But I did not know what was missing. It was meditation! - The telescope of my life. It is like there is so much in the sky, in space, but you cannot always see them with the naked eye; a telescope helps you get a closer look and you discover so much. In the same way, I have so much in my life, and meditation helps me discover them. It helps me discover ways to be naturally happy.

Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives.
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